Odette II
The Odette II is a solar sailing ship used by the Hakuoh Academy Space Yacht Club for practice cruises. It was originally the pirate ship Hakuchou, one of the Original Seven together with the Bentenmaru. Design Light Novel Design Anime Design Exterior Interior Colour Scheme Technology & Combat Characteristics The Odette II has three retractable masts with several sets of solar sails. The permeability of these sails can be altered to absorb and reflect different amounts of sunlight Sailing 05. Though it was armed in the past, at present the Odette II doesn't have any beam weapons or shields Sailing 05. However it still possesses a high-frequency radar and electronic warfare systems. In terms of sheer output, the Odette II has as much as a battleship Sailing 05. The Odette II is capable of operating autonomously if the crew need to leave the ship. Its programming prioritises versatility and survival Sailing 15. History The Odette II, or Hakuchou as it was previously known, has had a varied history extending back 200 years. It was initially an experimental craft, then a transport vessel, an exploratory vessel and an armed merchant vessel Sailing 02. During the War of Independence it was a camouflaged cruiser, one of the Original Seven pirate ships Sailing 02. Sometime after the war, the ship was renamed the Odette II and its weapons were removed. At some point, ownership passed to the Hakuoh Academy Space Yacht Club. When not in use, the ship was moored at the Sea of the Morning Star Relay Station in docking bay C68 Sailing 03. Recruitment Arc When Kane McDougal became the yacht club's advisor, they decided to have a practice cruise on the Odette II during the summer break, since he had a large ship license. During a long weekend, the yacht club travelled to the relay station to perform onboard checks in preparation for the cruise. Kane inspected the exterior whilst the others checked that the Odette II's internal systems were functioning properly, and messed about a bit on the bridge. After deactivating the bridge alarms and updating the central computer, the external power was cut then reconnected to reboot the systems. Since the navigation systems were being updated, the ship was connected to the network rather than being stand-alone as it had been before Sailing 02. Sometime later, Marika and Chiaki were alone on duty on the bridge. Since the ship was connected to the network, it was facing spam viruses and typical cyber-attacks, however Chiaki suspected that someone else was trying to break in. They then found a reaction that was synchronised to the external communications. Since the long-range main antenna was folded up and the short-range external antenna wasn't sensitive enough to do anything while docked, they realised that it was coming from a direct cable - the electronic attack originated inside the relay station Sailing 02. Using the communication filters, they found that the infiltration protocol was being posted from the D-block docking port and narrowed it down to port 117, where the Lightning 11 was moored. Marika decided that they should fight back and booted up the Odette II's electronic warfare systems, which automatically started to retake the ship's systems from the intruder. However the increased power usage caused the dock's breaker to trip, cutting power to the ship as the system was being reclaimed Sailing 03. At the start of the summer break, the Odette II left the relay station. After exiting the relay station's control space, it passed space speed 3 and switched co-ordinates from the Sea of the Morning Star to Tau Ceti. The plan for the practice cruise was to circle around Tau Ceti, passing by the Sand of the Red Star and then heading back to the relay station. As the Odette II received sunlight, it would approach maximum speed, and when near the Sand of the Red Star, it would receive 400 times the thermal radiation the Sea of the Morning Star receives. This was a journey that a normal ship could do in a day or so, but despite taking longer, the Odette II would only be using 2% of the approach energy in the process Sailing 03. After confirming that there were no ships in the vicinity, the yacht club attempted to deploy the Odette II's masts. However the upper yard opened before the main mast and got tangled. It wasn't possible to fix the problem using the automatic systems and if it was forced, in the worst case a third of the upper mast would be lost Sailing 03. Kane and the first year students went on a spacewalk to inspect the masts. They found that one of the yards that wasn't supposed to extend did and got caught. At Marika's suggestion, they decided to try changing the bracing angle on the stuck yard and slip it past before deploying the mast, since they would lose less time than if they were to fully retract and then raise the mast again. They carried out the plan and this time the main masts were successfully deployed. After the masts were raised to normal position, Kane and the students performed a full inspection then returned inside Sailing 03. Once the masts were extended and the antenna were up, Jenny ordered an omni-directional scan to test their electronics. The scan picked up three ships with unresponsive transponders Sailing 04. One of these ships passed by at high speed, while the other two eventually disappeared. The Odette II continued on its journey, on course for the inner planets of the Tau system. Sometime into the voyage, Marika and Chiaki were once again on duty in the control room. At that time, fifteen vessels were on radar - two were solar energy plants, one was an unmaned supply ship and the other twelve had IDs and flight plans which checked out. They noticed that the weather reports from the relay station were cutting out regularly and that periodic transmissions to the control bureau were cutting out as well. Since it was unlikely that both would cut out at the same time, they suspected that the communications were being jammed, possibly by the Lightning 11 who would likely be gathering data as they did so Sailing 04. Knowing that they were probably hiding somewhere, Marika booted up the high-frequency radar and performed a close-range, omni-directional, high-detail scan. The scan picked up a ship 500,000 km behind them which was identified as the Pleiades-class battleship Alcyon. There was no transponder signal so Marika initiated another scan to be certain, however this time the ship did not show up on radar. Marika repeated the scan but again there were no readings. Chiaki also discovered that the ship went down with all hands 120 years ago but had never been found. They later reported the 'ghost ship' to Kane, who after reassuring them, relayed the information to the Bentenmaru over an encrypted line and asked them to investigate further Sailing 04. After Jenny found Marika and Chiaki listening in on Kane's conversation, Marika decided to inform the other yacht club members about the situation. To her suprise, Jenny and Lynn were already aware of her position as a candidate for captaining the Bentenmaru. When asked what they should do, Marika suggested the yacht club should fight off the enemy themselves in order to prevent the adults for trying anything if the Odette II goes out on another practice cruise Sailing 04. The yacht club then proceeded to plan for the upcoming confrontation while Kane and Misa feigned ignorance. Marika wrote up a prediction for an enemy attack and a counterattack plan, most of which relied on making the enemy believe their own plan was going well. She predicted that the enemy would most likely be waiting in the shadow of the Sand of the Red Star and then attack from behind. In order to prevent the attackers from gaining control of the Odette II's systems, a decoy was created in a separate area, through which the cracking attempts would be rerouted Sailing 04. Later when the Odette II was nearing the Sand of the Red Star's gravity field, Lynn used the sun sensor and spotted a tiny object 700,000 km away on the side facing the sun - likely an unmanned stealth unit less than a meter across. The unit pretended to be the Alcyon when scanned with a high-frequency radar, using the hull plans, noise and several adjustments to fake a radar signature. Marika guessed that this unit would probably be an antenna for the enemy's electronic attacks and wished to use it to strike against the enemy ship Sailing 04. While Lynn got to work on taking over the 'ghost ship', Marika also suggested a change to the flight plan. Instead of going around the far side of the Sand of the Red Star as was originally planned, they would start their turn sooner and go inside the planet's orbit. This would reduce the time on the flight plan and get them back to the relay station faster, but it would also limit the enemy's actions. At that point in time, there were only two places that the Odette II's radar couldn't reach; inside the sun and on the far side of the planet, which was likely where the enemy was hiding. Jenny agreed to this change of plan since it was within the error margin of the submitted plan and there weren't any ships likely to cause trouble. The change meant that the Odette II would be closest to the planet at midnight on the third day rather than the morning of the fourth. This was most likely the time when the enemy would attack, and if they waited until morning, the Odette II would have enough time to pick up speed Sailing 05. Close to midnight, the yacht club members made their way to the bridge, while Misa sneaked into the captain's room, having Kane intercept the monitors so the yacht club would be none the wiser. Shortly after sending their check-in, the enemy's electronic attack began. The area was flooded with jamming waves and shortly afterwards they began hacking the normal communications line. The crew fiddled with the radar settings, pretending they though it was a radar error. The enemy then found the dummy system and began to take it over, thinking it was the Odette II's real system Sailing 05. After the dummy system was 50% hacked, Syoko shut down the radar emitter to make the enemy thinking they believed it was broken and they were rebooting. The ship was then stopped and the yacht club performed a check on all systems before combat operations. They then sealed the ship's bulkheads as the enemy achieved 100% control and outside communications ceased. Syoko then rebooted the radar emitter as the jamming ceased. The scan picked up a ship behind them - the Lightning 11, who sent an emergency message demanding their immediate surrender Sailing 05. As the Lightning 11 looked through the monitors (loaded with dummy images from the ship's library) and tried ringing the alarms to alert the crew, Lynn used an FTL line to directly link into their core systems. Jenny then prepared a reply to the Lightning 11's message, consisting of a single word; "Fools" (bakame) Sailing 05. As soon as she sent the reply, Lynn began the electronic attack. The two ships exchanged messages (in the form of poems) as they engaged in electronic warfare. The Odette II used its radar emitter to jam the Lightning 11's communications. The Lightning 11 shut down its line and emitted more jamming waves, but Chiaki upped the ship's output. The Odette II soon had control over the Lightning 11's systems and Lynn shut down their engines, however as she tried to knock out their back-ups, the system suddenly vanished. Lilly then reported that the comm line to the Lightning 11 had been shut down. Lynn realised that the Lightning 11 had powered off their computers, meaning their victory was meaningless Sailing 05. Alarms then went off on the bridge as an energy wave was detected. They soon realised that the Lightning 11 was firing on them with a beam cannon. Since there were no radar waves or communications, Chiaki deduced that they were firing using optical targeting systems. The Lightning 11 fired more shots at the Odette II, adjusting each time they did so, the beams getting closer to the Odette II. Chiaki suggested switching to normal propulsion and accelerating to run, however Marika pointed out that would allow them to know their exact location through infra-red. She asked them to pinpoint the Lightning 11's position as accurately as possible, so she could use a 'secret weapon'. After getting a fix with the high-frequency radar (400,000 km behind and about 30 m wide), Marika inputed the position as another shot past by. The ship then shook as the masts turned to match her adjustments. With the permeability set to zero, the sails reflected all of the sunlight that fell on them in the Lightning 11's direction, blinding the gunners Sailing 05. Shortly afterwards, two more ships arrived; the Bentenmaru and the Barbaroosa. As Chiaki re-introduced herself as the daughter of the Barbaroosa's captain, the two pirate ships opened fire on the Lightning 11. The Stellar Military's sixth escort fleet also arrived and communicated with the Odette II, asking if there was anything they required and wishing them a good flight. The Odette II then continued on its journey, making it safely back to the relay station Sailing 05. Golden Ghost Ship Arc After Gruier Serenity transferred to Hakuoh Academy, the yacht club planned and carried out another practice cruise on the Odette II in order to cover up the fact that the princess was searching for the golden ghost ship on the Bentenmaru Sailing 09 Sailing 10. Hakuoh Pirates Arc When the yacht club learned that the Bentenmaru's crew had been taken ill, they agreed to help Marika carry out her pirating duties and planned a practice cruise to act as a cover. Lynn used a dummy of Kane McDougal in order to receive launch clearance from the relay station control tower. The flight plan that was submitted was to skirt around the staging area at the Lagrange Point and enter extra-planetary orbit, whilst the real plan was to head to where the Bentenmaru was moored so they could board it. After deploying the sails and setting the ship to function autonomously, the yacht club (including Gruier and Grunhilde who had stowed away) left the Odette II and proceeded to the Bentenmaru Sailing 15. After successfully completing their piracy and an extra job from Jenny Dolittle, the yacht club returned to the Odette II and brought it back to the relay station Sailing 18. Nebula Cup Arc (Anime Only) The yacht club made several succesive trips to relay station to perform cleaning and maintenance on the Odette II. On the second day, they found that the engine room safety relay needed replacing. They lacked a spare and there weren't any parts in the clubroom to repair it with. Fortunately, there was a spare aboard the Bentenmaru, which they installed after finishing cleaning Sailing 19. Pirate Hunter Arc (Anime Only) When the pirates issued a challenge against the Grand Cross, the yacht club as well as a few graduates, took the Odette II out to where the battle was due to take place, however when they arrived, the battle was already over. The active crew then transferred command to the graduates and boarded the Parabellum which had been hired by Gruier to get them home in time for the exams Sailing 26. Known Crew See Hakuoh Academy Space Yacht Club References Category:Ships Category:Articles requiring images